Today Cocoa is at day 299. Minis tend to go around 320, according to many mini breeders... and they all say to start watching at day 300 b/c it's not unusual to go soon after that.. then of course, there are those (horses, I mean) who wait until day 360 or even longer! ;)

Nothing to note on Cocoa yet. I just wanted to get these photos (taken at 285 days) up for reference for when things DO start happening!

Both Cocoa and Casi are maidens, so it does worry me a bit, maiden minis don't always bag up... so!

Jessi

I THINK there is some slight udder developement! Sure felt like there was... I will try to take pics today to compare :)

Jessi

How are the minis doing? This week has been dragging by ,the vet comes friday to let us know if ours is bred or just fat. The more i look at her the more i think she is pregnant. I have fallen head over heals for her and i want to be prepared if she is pregnant. Thanks for posting pics of your mares they give me a idea of what to look for.

Thanks for asking! They're doing good. Hubby is convinced Casi will foal this week.... but he's been saying that for over  a month now lol ;) She's not close yet, but her tiny bag is getting slooooowly bigger ;)

can't wait to hear what your vet says about your girl! How are they doing, settled in yet? Would love to see more photos :)

Jessi

The minis are great, they acted like they were both born at our place. I have been trimming up there long hairs on there face, i guess just bonding They are truly special. The vet is gonna be busy with shots and gelding barnibus also. Sorry to keep asking ?s but can you feel movement on there stomachs , is it real noticabe? It is so frustrating not knowing, im afraid if she is ,something will go wrong. thanks

They sure get fuzzy faces, don't they? :) I HATE the fuzzy heads, they look so silly! I often clip them, or at least underneath.

To feel movement, the best place is under the belly, in front of the udder, usually off to the side just a bit. And you'll need patience. You can't always feel it though. It's a neat feeling when you do!

As they get a little furthur, sometimes you'll be able to SEE the movement a little higher up the side. I did ONCE on Casi, it was neat! I've NEVER seen this much movement, but if you click on the link, then scroll down to "Watch a Baby Kicking" you'll see a TON of movement in this video!

http://www.paintedsunminiaturehorses.com/miniarticles.htm

Have you discussed with your vet the pregnancy check? Usually, external ultrasounds don't work very well on minis (inconclusive results). And not many vets will do internal u/s on minis. So you might need to do a blood test. Just a heads up :) I check them myself with a home urine test, but that requires knowning how far they are, as it works in a time window.

Jessi

My grandma made the appointment with vet cause all our horses hore getting vaccinated . I know she told him we wanted the mare checked.I was wondering if they could palpate, reading online some would and some wouldnt. I read about people preg test and wondered if it worked. The more i look at her the more i think she is. In front of her bag is droopy in her flank area i thought i felt something, then i thought maybe it was my imagination. The vet comes at 3:30 on friday i will post as soon as i can. Thanks again

Human test don't work, but if you google wee foal you'll find the horse urine test. If I recall correctly, it's only good through day 300.... unless that's a diff home test... and it's likely she's beyond that if you think you see some udder developement. Even though it's far from ideal if he got her pregnant, it'll still be exciting? Can't wait to find out!

Jessi

What a amazing video and website. If she is im sure we will keep the colt,i just want to make sure i do what i can to keep them healthy and happy.  Have you had any new developements?

Not too much change, slight udder enlargement is possible... I have a hard time telling though since I check their udders twice a day! LOL They are getting VERY used to my hand down there! I still need to look at the photos I took last week compared to the earlier ones, and then take new ones... and prob won't get around to that until next week. I do the photos on my desktop, but pretty much just use my laptop on the weeks I work (I work 7 on/7 off) so gotta wait!

Jessi

I dont know how everyone does this,im going bonkers just waiting fo a checkup ha. Last evening i looked at her and her udders looked small,emma is very sweet but she doesnt like me to touch her even close to them flashbacks of motherhood maybe lol . If vet does blood test i sure hope it doesnt take long for results.

Cocoa's not fond of me touching there, either. Sometimes she lifts her leg in a "kick" (just a warning, more like asking me to stop). So I make sure not to take long, and to clean off any ickies in there, most mares enjoy that part. She's getting more patient with me now ;)

I think the blood test takes 2 or 3 days, but I'm not sure?

Can't wait to find out!

Jessi

Well where to begin, the vet was almost 3 hours late and the weather got drastically colder we about froze waiting. He didnt geld barnibus first because weather ,then he checked him and said only 1 testical was down and he may be a cryptorchid so we will have to deal with this differently now, always something. As far as Emma he didnt do blood  or anything other than feel her and say he didnt feel a foal in her ,to small to palpate. Said since we didnt know when she may of been bred  blood test wouldnt help ,something like that.   I am aggravated nothing is ever easy ,we will have barney taken care hopefully it goes smooth and isnt extremely expensive. As far as Emma goes i will just keep an i on her , what amount of feed do you give? They get 1 cup grain and 2-3 flakes grass hay a day. Thanks!

Ugh, a crypt... not fun! My POA only had one testicle down. My vet quoted "minimum $1200" UGH!

I called two other places, one quoted me $400-600!!!!! I booked with him ;) Testicle was really easy for him to find (oh but neither her nor regular vet could feel it with Skylar sedated), and with the geld, 100 pills of antibiotic (didn't need that many, but I like to have them on hand and had run really low) and pulling his wolf teeth, was only $330! So if you vet quotes a HUGE amount, it sure doesn't hurt to call around! :)

As to feeding my minis... the only grass hay we can get (without paying over $20 a bale and HUNTING to find that (timothy)) is bermuda, which is basically just something they chew, not nutritious enough for them. So I DO give them bermuda, but just so they have hay to munch. We feed 1 pound morning and night of soaked alfalfa cubes (a little more money than baled, but it's SO MUCH EASIER to weigh vs pulling apart the bales!). And in the morning they get 1 1/2 cups of beet pulp pellets presoaked, which we soak. Broodmares get 2 cups Equine Jr when appropriate, as do the young 'uns (which we don't have YET). And hubby's old guy gets 2 cups Equine Sr because he's a little harder to keep in good weight (he's 24 and barely has teeth... they're all there, but down to nothing according to the dentist).

When I first got into minis, I heard to never feed alfalfa, just grass. My minis didn't look that great, didn't have as much on their toplines as I'd like, and had big hay bellies. So I researched more, found out what many mini people with horses in AWESOME shape fed, and the vast majority did alfalfa (many use cubes, some use bales) and the beet pulp, so I tried it and it's GREAT! :)  But again, remember our grass hay is pretty useless as nutrition, so yours may be just fine ;) Also, if you ask 10 mini horse people how to feed, you'll get a dozen different answers ;) Ya gotta do what works for YOU and your minis :)

Too bad you don't have an answer on your mare. If you don't mind spending the $40 you could try the wee foal test. It's only accurate through 300 days of pregnancy, and of course you don't know how far along she'd be, but might be something you'd want to try? Or you can just wait and see ;) Here's a website for it http://www.weefoal.com/index.php if you want to read about it. There is also pregnamare, but I have NOT had accurate results with that, and I have a hard time getting blood from their muzzles and end up making multiple cuts, so I will NEVER use that again. It kept giving me not pregnant results, when my mares WERE pregnant, so to me that one was a waste of money. I LOVE the Wee Foal test though ;) If you DO decide to try it, I can tell you how I got the urine. You can also google it or maybe read on that website some ways to do it. It's a lot easier than it seems ;)

Jessi

I will check out the preg test. Our vet has been real reasonable as far as prices go. We had an interesting time getting a halter on barney , we took it slow once he realized it wasnt gonna hurt he did good. He was one halter was to tight, they need some work. I didnt realize they had such trust issues till the vet came they both got really nervous. They are good minis and worth the effort, they were free so that helps with getting barney gelded. They hadnt been vaccinated before so vet will be back to give a booster and i will have Emma checked again then.